Little Falls transcript., 1887-06-03
Welded v in DEATH.
4 Cbapter from tho Grim story OF Charleston,s s
y E2 B0Mbardment. .s3 sa

= Philadelnhia Press. a n. s.5@.
Il Across the level tongue Of land from
which the battle-scarred, earthquak,
shaken city OF Charlest on looks East
ward stretch the grass-covered mound.
which are all that is left Of the mighty
Notifications that Lee and Beaure
gard built and armed nearly a quar-
ter OF q century ago. Approachin.
the bank Tapped by the lazy wavelet'
OF the Ashley, these traces of the de
tensive works OF that era ran North
ward OF a peaceful burial-gr ound il
which the drooping branches of tn,
magnolia and palmetto trees sweer
the tops OF the stones that record tn,
names Of men and women who have
found rest beneath that sod in tht
generations that have passed since the
stalwart and splendid Huguenot pill
grims who have escaped Carriere'f
massacre established the CITY
and the state. A perpetual peace
dwells upon the spot; the fra
GRANGE of roses and magnolias per.
tunes the atmosphere; the remnants o1
the forts have been smoothed by the
lndomitable hand of time into fitting
semb'ance with tho scene; veterans OF
the arboreal growth the scars OF the
shot and she'll that once whistled and
screamed from the great guns of Dahl.
gren's monitors and Gilmore's batter
les over this lovely Gods Acre of the
Southern land; and between the leaf
age OF the sturdy trees the visitor
catches glimpses OF famous old St.
MlchaePs spne and all the broad and
beautiful vista OF river, city and sea
that extends to the horizon Of the At
lantic. 1t is the ancient and yenera-
BILE cemetery OF Christ Church Parish.
around which Beauregard drew his
mllitery lines Of circumvallation and
so brought the rude and noisy hustle
OF war into intrusion upon the ever
lasting sleep of South Carolinians
who had preached notification and
talked states rights five lustrums be-
fore speech became powder and shot
and bloodshed.
The western sun bathes in golden
glory one OF the most prominent mon
uments in this city of the dead-a
slender and graceful marble shaft
crowning a. turfed hlllock that from
time to time blooms with the profit
gate beauty OF flowers that bespeuks
assiduous and indefatigable care for
the memory Of the tenant OF the tomb.
On the face that Is turned toward the
sunset is the inscription:
MARGARET PICKENS De ROCHELLE.
DEC. 24rH, 1864.
When South Carolina seeded from
the Union and lit the fire OF the civil
war her governor was Francis W. Pick.
ems, q member of the slave-ho.ding
aristocracy that boasted of It's blue
Blood, and, like the feudal system OF
men and women. 10 that rank Gov
ernor Pickens was entitled, and of
all the fair and lovable women to
whom his distinguished family had
given birth no one was sweeter or
more beautiful than the daughter
who, when Major Anderson lowered
the flag on Sumter, was budding into
81 charming womanhood. It has been
truly said that the war was prolone-
ed by the courage and persistency
with which the women of the South
lmbued the men. No history has
ever adequately told the sacrifices
that they made, the suffering that
they patiently endured to cheer and
prompt the soldiers and sailors who
served under the banner OF the best
cause. Nowhere between tho Poto-
mac and the Mexican Gulf was their
spirit of answering devotion more
manifest and active than in the CAP
ital of the keystone State of the
Southern Confederacy; and there was
no patriotic project mooted in which
women could share to which Margaret
Pickens did not contribute.
Turning back to the Charleston
newspapers OF the war epoch, her
name is found hundred times upon
their worn and fading pages. In 1852
the women OF the city turned their
jewelry, their diamonds-gems that
had come down to them from their
Huguenot and English ancestors-
their silver plate and inn umerable ar
ticles Of brio brac into the money
that paid for the ironclad ship Of war
Palmetto State that on January 81,
1868. sunk the United States gun
boat Mercedita in battle in Charles
ton Harbor. In the enterprise ofrais-
ing the construction fund Margaret
.Pickens was proficient and untiring.
She stripped herself OF her jewelry,
and she figured in leading capacity
at the fair orbazaar at which the wom.
en- sold their treasures that 1.-THE La
dies" Gunboat" might be built. A
bright young Englishman, who
had come into Charleston as
an officer Of one of the blockade
runners, saw her on that occasion and
worshiped her through the medium OF
letter to a friend in Liverpool that
found it's way into the columns OF the
Liverpool Mercury. He wrote;
Il have seen tonight the loveliest
girl that my eyes ever gazed upon and
the sight Of her was worth the guinea
OF a sailors wages that l paid for the
queer little flower that Ireceived from
her hand and that is lying before me
as l write. The picture Of her lace
which I hold in memory would make
ME willing at any time to take the
chances Of being caught or shot to
pieces by the Yankees in dodging the
blockade. She is rather tall, clean
built as a Shanghai clipper, her eyes
and hair are nut-brown and her voice
as soft as that OF any OF the Minorca
girls" 49,. ".,.t..M
For nineteen months, beginning with
June, 1868, Charleston suffered the
most prolonged and tremendous bonn
bardment ever inflicted upon any
American city. ALI the lower part of
the town was swept by day and night
bv \ Gilmore's three hundred